Demonstration device



Filed April 28, 1950 be seen readily by the observer.

Patented Feb. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE DEMONSTRATION DEVICE Odis L. Holmes, Waco, Tex., assignor to The Eagle-Picher Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 28, 1950, Serial No. 158,824

- 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a device for illustrating the fire resistance of mineral wool, and

the ability of mineral wool insulation to control the spread of fires in a building in which such insulation is installed.

Mineral wool insulation, sometimes called rockwool, is well-known as a heat insulative material adapted to be installed in wall and floor spaces of buildings to prevent loss of heat from the inside of a building during cold weather periods, and to exclude heat during summer. It

is not commonly known that the installation of mineral wool in a building helps protect the building against fire damage, in addition to the heat insulating properties which it confers upon the building. I

The principal objective of the invention has been to provide a portable demonstration device ="which may be used repeatedly for educational 'provide ademonstration deviceof portable nature which is not itself consumed by a fire caused to burn within it, but may, after one use, be

prepared for reuse in a simple and convenient manner.

The devices of the invention consist essentially of model-like structures simulating typical wooden or frame buildings having rafters and joists between the roof and floors, and studs between the walls in the usual arrangement employed in full scale homes and buildings. Portions of the building enclosure are removed, or are removable, in order that the joist, rafter and stud constructions may be observed or may The demonstration device is so arranged that fires may be caused to occur in the joist, rafter and stud areas, either sequentially or simultaneously, in order that the user may illustrate the manner in which fire spreads and burns in a typical frame building, once a given portion of it is ignited. In addition, however, the devices of the present invention are so constructed and arranged that mineral wool insulation may then be installed at the sites of fire, to illustrate. the fire control? simulating rafters or joists, or both.

2 provided by the mineral wool under conditions duplicating those which prevailed during'the first demonstration. In this manner the observer may witness the efficacy of mineral wool insulation for this purpose.

In order that the devices of the present in vention may be used and reused repeatedly for demonstration purposes, the parts consumed by fire in each demonstration are replaceable, and preferably constitute inflammable wooden splints Inflammable cards or sheets of paper or the like,are employed to simulate vertical walls exposed at the opposite sides of studs in accordance? with the construction prevailing in a typical fullsized building. It is to be understood thatthe device may embody only the roof and joist construction, or the wall and stud construction, but preferably both displays are incorporated in a single portable unit, in order that the effects 0 fire at both areas may be exhibited. r ,1

A typical apparatus embodying the principles of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portable demonstration device embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 22 in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 in Figure l.

The simulated building construction utilized in the portable demonstration device shown in the drawings is separated into two units for purposes of illustration. The unit on the left in Figure 1 shows a preferred type of simulated wall structure, while the unit on the right shows a preferred form of simulated attic and floor joist construction. The units are mounted one. common base ll! which represents a floor in the building structure. It will be obvious that the two units may be joined into a single structure which employs the wall construction of the unit at the left in combination with the attic and joist construction of the unit shown at the right.

In that portion of the device which is designed primarily to illustrate the fire controlling capabilities of mineral wool insulation when'installed in an attic, three vertical walls 1 I are provided, each wall being secured to the base. In the preferred construction plywood is utilized for the base and walls, the parts being fastened together by wire, nails and glue. These parts if desired, although it has been foundithati if the outer-ends of the splints ll'.

3 reasonable care is exercised during the demonstration. such precautionary measures are not necessary. The three walls H are tied together by a side wall I 2 which is also secured to the base 10. In the device shown the wall members are peaked as at l3 in order to simulate gable roof construction, and that portion of the simulated building which is between the gables represents typical attic rooms. Adjacent the top of each of the walls, near the peaks, a small aperture I4 is formed to provide a rest for the ends of the wood splints shown at 15. The splints I5 represent the roof rafters of the building, and more than one may be utilized in each room if desired. Any readily inflammable material maybe selected for the splints, however, it is preferred that wooden ones be used in order that they be as realistic as possible. It has been found that ordinary wooden tooth picks are well suited for the purpose. Below the gable portion of the walls the two outer walls are pierced by a series of holes I6 which are aligned horizontally, being spaced across the wall, to provide supports for These splints simulate the floor joists in the attic portion of the house. Theinner ends of the splints I! are supported on a U-shaped wire l8 which has the closed end of the U engaged within a slot 20 cut in theedgeof the middle wall of the three shown. Thearms of the U extend parallel with the middle wall and through the side wall l2 where, at the outside of wall l2, the respective outer ends of the wire support are bent over as at 2| in order to secure the wire support in place.

It is to be noted in Figure 3 that the two spaces defined by the three walls simulated rooms which are substantially identical, one differing from the other only in respect to the arrangement of the splints and the splint supports. Two rooms areshown for illustration purposes, and as will a be pointed out below, only one such structure is needed in order to demonstrate effectively the fire control afforded by the use of mineral wool insulation. It is preferred that the mineral wool insulation be provided in the form of small bat-s, one of which is indicated at 22. The bat is cut to scale so that it fits snugly within the space between two walls in the same manner in which the insulation is installed in regular building structures.

In the unit shown at the left in Figure I an end ,Wall 25, similar to the walls H in the structure described above, is secured to the base. Each of the simulated walls includes a pair of vertical stud members 26 which is secured to the base it and spaced apart in accordance with the usual build- :ing practice. At the sides of each of the stud members metal plates 2'! are secured, for example, by the tacks indicated at 28. These plates cooperate with a pair of grooves in the inner face of each of the stud members to provide spaced vertical channels in which panels 38 of paper or other inflammable material may be inserted.

The panels, thus spaced, represent the inner and uter wall coverings of ordinary frame or semiframe building structures. In the embodiment shown two walls are provided. In the space between the twopanels 36, in one of these walls, a bat 32 of insulation material similar to the bat 22 is inserted. In this particular instance, the wall structure is shown as a unit separate from the unit described above; however, it will be obvious that the simulated wall structure may be installed in the unit described above in place of wall I2.

In using the device for demonstration purposes, different techniques may be employed. For example, in the unit shown at the right both of the splints l5 which are used to simulate the rafters of the two attic rooms may be set afire at the same time. The room having the bat of fire resisting mineral wool between the burning rafter and the simulated joists islaffected but little when the splint burns to the extent that it falls onto the mineral wool. It simply burns itself out while the bat protects the simulated rafters I! from the flame. In the other room, that is, the room not having the mineral wool between the burning rafters and the simulated joists, the ends of the burning splint 15 fall onto the splints H and theflames spreadrapidly from one splint to the other until the whole mass is afiame. This particular phase of the demonstration is quite spectacular because as the splints ll, representing the joists, are burned through, they fall from their places of support onto the floor of the room below, that is, the base it, showing quite graphically the manner in which fires spread downwardly through buildings. Preferably several additional splints are laid across the joist splints, the added splints representing flooring or inflammable material stored in the attic. These splints serve to spread the flames more rapidly, the result being a mass of flames covering the entire simulated attic area.

In devices having two rooms, as shown, setting fire to the two roof rafter splints I5 at the same time serves as the basis for direct comparison between insulated and uninsulated buildings. However, the demonstration is equally effective if only one room is utilized and the demonstration carried out in two steps in which the hat of insulating material is not used in the first portion of the demonstration. The device shows quite spectacularly how fast flames spread under these conditions, and demonstrates quite clearly how easily flames spread into the lower part of a building even though the fire started in the attic regions. After the splints have all burned out, the demonstration may be again carried out in the same room, replacing the splints with others and with the bat installed over the simulated joists.

In the simulated wall demonstration, the lower edges of one of the panels in each of the two walls may be ignited at the same time. The hollow wall burns very rapidly. The construction of this wall, in principle, is the same as that employed in most frame buildings, and the demonstration shows very effectively how a fire originating in a stud area of the wall spreads rapidly to upper portions of the building as a result of the efficient fiue effect provided by this type construction. Even though the outer panel is lighted first in the demonstration device, the flame quickly jumps to the inner wall and both panels are burned completely. In the wall in which the mineral wool bat is inserted, following the technique employed in regular building insulation, the flue effect present in the other wall is not provided, and even though the flames does partly consume the outer panel, the spread of the flames is rather slow and the inner panel is not effected at all, being insulated from the burning panel by the mineral wool bat.

Having described my invention, I claim:

A device for demonstrating the fire controlling capabilities of mineral wool insulation which comprises a base, a structure of reduced scale size mounted upon the base and arranged in par- 5 tial simulation of a building, said structure including a, first set of parts adapted to receive replaceable simulated structural elements which are inflammable and disposed in juxtaposition and arranged so that upon deliberate ignition of one of the elements a flame is produced which spreads to an adjacent element, said structure including a second set of parts substantially identical with said first set, said second set of parts also adapted to receive inflammable structural elements identical with the first mentioned elements. and a hat of mineral wool insulation material of reduced scale size adapted to be installed between the elements of one of said sets,

ments of the two sets adirect comparison may be made of the spread of flames in the two sets.

ODIS L. HOLMES.

nsrmnNcnis CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS whereby upon the ignition of corresponding ele- 5 

